The process of designing and building any new car can be a daunting task, and it is only exacerbated when that car has a significant legacy to uphold. The Ford Focus RS has become the standard bearer for the hot hatch movement in Europe, and for the first time it will be available for purchase around the globe. But putting the 345 horsepower Focus RS together was not an easy task, and Ford’s documentary “Rebirth of an Icon” has focused on development of the 2016 RS from concept to final product.

We’re now up to Part 7 of the series, beyond the point of no return where the Focus RS design is more or less locked in. But it still needs to get the green light from Blue Oval brass, and this episode has been rightly titled “Close Scrutiny”.

This is by far the most candid episode yet, as Ford’s chief global product development executive Raj Nair comes down to personally test the Focus RS and all of its driving modes. He seems satisfied with Track mode and happy with Sport mode, though Drift mode was by far his favorite driving experience.

However, he comes back with a lot of criticism of arguably the most important driving mode of all, Normal, saying the steering was off center, the brakes weren’t biting enough, and it wasn’t exuding enough character for a Focus RS. By that he means a distinct lack of “pops and burbles”, which are actually signs of inefficiencies, but a requirement for the car’s persona.

In the end, Raj still didn’t sign off on the Focus RS, and while the episode tries to induce some hype for the question “Will it get the green light?”, by now we all already know the answer.